The emotional immaturity of the Iranian mob at UK embassy

Times:

Britain’s dispute with Iran turned ugly yesterday when hundreds of hardliners besieged the British Embassy in Tehran, pelting it with stones and thunder-flashes.

After a weekend when London and Tehran had hinted that they were trying to find a diplomatic solution, the violence raised fears that the row could follow the pattern of previous disputes that have led to severing bilateral ties.

About 200 students from Tehran University took part in the demonstration outside the British mission, in a huge compound in central Tehran. Riot police stood by as the protesters, who were members of the Basij religious militia, chanted “British, British, death to you, death to you” and demanded the expulsion of “the ambassador of the Old Fox”, a reference to the British envoy, Geoffrey Adams.

Some hurled stones and thunder-flash bombs, which make a loud explosion but cause no damage. Several dozen policemen prevented any of the protesters from entering the embassy compound, although a few did briefly scale a fence that lies outside the compound’s walls before being pushed back. Smoke was seen billowing from inside the compound, but a diplomat said that no one was hurt.

One demonstrator gave warning from a podium that the British Embassy could face a similar fate to that of the US mission in Tehran if “Britain keeps on speaking nonsense”, drawing cheers from the crowd. In 1980 Islamist students stormed the US compound taking American diplomats hostage for 444 days.

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It seems par for the course that mob throwing a tantrum would be the immature way the Iranian regime would deal with a crisis it created by kidnapping British forces in Iraqi waters. Having been caught in their big lie the Iranians then repeatedly violate the Geneva Conventions by parading the forces on TV with bogus confessions. Now that we know that we are not dealing with mature adults, the Brits will have to structure a way out of the dilemma with that in mind. Perhaps we can give them a time out in their corner of the world.